June 2009GHOSTS IN THE HOUSE!Written and illustrated by Kazuna KoharaPublisher: Roaring Brook Press, 32 pages

A little girl and a cat explore an old house and find it full of
ghosts. But they aren't just any little girl and cat, but a witch girl
and her witch cat - and out come the pointy hat and the black cat suit!
Marvellous!!
They round the ghosts up, give them a wash, hang them out to dry and
turn them into happy curtains, table cloth, bed clothes and other
household linen.
I'm not sure if ghosts really want to be functional, but these ones
look happy enough.
I Love the striking orange-and-black illustrations - that somehow gives
the impression of a bright night! And the white tissue ghosts are
wispily delightful and look like they could blow off the page!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

IT'S good to see more children's books being written and published by Malaysians. Last week I was introduced to an independent publisher who is dedicated to publishing Malaysian stories. Oyez! Books has a list of titles that are illustrated by Malaysian artists and is on the look-out for Malaysians who wish to write for children. More on this publishing company and its founder, Linda Tan, in another column.

This week, I'd like to highlight a new book published by Marshall Cavendish. Timeless Tales of Malaysia is a collection of 11 folktales, retold by Tutu Dutta. Born in India, Dutta grew up in Malaysia. However, she now spends much of her time away from the country as she's married to a Malaysian diplomat whose next posting is to Cuba!

Dutta has always been interested in folktales, legends and myths, which, she says are "little capsules of culture, history and also human nature". She read and researched a great many stories before selecting those that appear in Timeless Tales. Some of them were tales Dutta remembered from her childhood; others she had read on the Internet and discussion forums; a few were from travel articles and also from published collections. The final selection was based solely on what appealed to Dutta most. "First of all, they had to have an interesting plot and the possibility of character development," she explained to me via email, adding that she also favoured stories that end with twist. Most importantly, the stories had to "speak" to her.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

I READ your column on the sly," a woman in her mid 20s said to me the other day.

"You must have me mixed up with someone else," I said, half-peevishly. "My column isn't about anything you'd want to hide having an interest in." Actually, I knew she had not mistaken who I was; I knew what she was getting that.

True enough, she told me, in a whisper that she loved children's books but didn't want her friends to find out. "So embarrassing," she giggled.

I simply gave her my best fake smile. Sometimes, I just can't be bothered to explain that if you're an adult who reads and enjoys children's books, it does not mean that you are mentally deficient. Nor does it mean that you have unusual tastes. If you do read children's books, you'll know that they are about practically everything under the sun. Sex is practically the only thing that you won't find in children's literature, but teen lit does deal with the subject, sometimes quite explicitly (much to the dismay of some parents and teachers who, in my opinion, are in denial).

I also frequently meet parents who tell me, in horror, that they're children still enjoy picture books. For shame! Those are for babies surely!

I suggested that an English language tutor use picture books to teach her 14-year-old student who couldn't read well and had problems concentrating on the reading primers she used. Short sentences and paragraphs interspersed with pictures are less intimidating than large blocks of text; and illustrations can also be used to improve a child's observational and descriptive skills. The tutor, however, felt that the student would be embarrassed if she used "baby" books to teach him. His friends would laugh at him. Well, why not teach his friends using the same books? I don't think you're ever too old for picture books.

Author/illustrator Anthony Browne feels that way too. Browne has just been chosen as Britain's new Children's Laureate. He takes over from poet and picture book author Michael Rosen, and will hold the post for two years.

Browne is looking forward to championing picture books which he said, in an interview with The Times, "are being marginalised and forgotten about".

His own picture books often feature monkeys and apes, especially gorillas. In the same interview, he says, "Gorillas are just fascinating to draw in the way that old people’s faces are more interesting to draw than young people’s faces."

Although the books sometimes deal with serious issues like parental neglect and bullying, the use of apes allows, I believe, for a more child-friendly approach, as animals tend to be viewed by children as non-threatening, and also allow children some distance when reading about these difficult situations.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

THE latest issue of The Horn Book Magazine (about books for children and young adults) contains an article by Lizza Aiken about growing up with Joan Aiken (her mother).

Joan Aiken is of course best known for her Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, set during an alternate period of English history, during which James II was never deposed. She sounds like quite an amazing woman, as was her mother, Jessie, who read and sang to her children, and was acknowledged by Aiken as intrumental in her development as a writer.

Aiken too filled her children's lives with stories, poetry and songs. And although she had to care for a sick husband and young children, and then, when she was widowed, cope as a single parent, she still managed to support her family and write books.

Lizzie Aiken writes that "stories acted as a bandage for the pain we were all suffering" and describes how language and literature were used to "assuage" "difficulties and loneliness".

This reminds me of something Susan Cooper (author of The Dark is Rising Sequence) once said about how stories present children with problems that they can learn to work through without the stress and pain of a real situation of difficulty. You enter a story, live it, you are the character, you feel what she feels, and yet, you're free to leave, free to step back into safety. However, the intensity with which a child feels for a character means that she experiences what the character does almost exactly as if it were happening to her.